Legislation should be driven by local interests

Though clearly it’s not the entire agenda, or even the biggest piece of it — oil taxes, anyone? Budgets? — the Legislature set out a portion of what it plans to work on last week with a list of pre-filed legislation.

Of those 77 pieces of legislation, 20 came from the Valley delegation.

Some are murky in their intent. Others are straightforward. And a lot of them are all too familiar.

Few of the familiar bills were ones we were happy to see again. Rep. Mark Neuman’s bill, for instance, removing the duty to retreat and instead using deadly force, has returned. We were happy to see that one die in committee last session and expressed our distaste for it here in an editorial.

Just to reiterate — we don’t believe the state needs to encourage the use of deadly force when peaceable alternatives are available. And nationally, so-called Stand Your Ground laws have been controversial and without measurable success

Similar in its attempt to solve a non-existent problem with an odious solution is House Bill 3, which counts Wasilla’s Rep. Wes Keller as one of two co-sponsors. It is essentially a voter-ID law, requiring some kind of identification before a person can receive a ballot. We recall being carded the last time we voted, so it’s unclear how this changes things.

Furthermore, while voter turnout in this state is already shamefully low, we won’t support legislative changes that stand to further disenfranchise voters and reduce turnout at the polls.

On the other hand, we see practical reasons for some of the bills filed so far. Such as the bill Neuman is attempting that would make more enforceable the laws for who can and can’t possess gravity knives or switchblades by actually defining in the law what those two types of knives are. Also, Rep. Lynn Gattis’ legislation targeted at cyber-bullying seems like a good idea.

What we find objectionable is how many of these bills — and even one constitutional amendment — seem aimed not at problems in Alaska, but at national partisan talking points.

We have talked to Keller in the past about his affinity for legislation from the deeply conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

In a nutshell, ALEC is an organization that drafts legislation for conservative state legislators to bring back and pass in their home states. It has pushed for Stand Your Ground Laws, for instance, and for school vouchers like Keller’s constitutional amendment would seek.

To be clear — our objection is to the cookie-cutter nature of such proposals. We prefer locally crafted legislation that proposes solutions to local problems.

We also prefer common sense to rigid ideology. As the new Legislature convenes, we hope that business is conducted in a way that prioritizes the good of all Alaskans.